One of the guilty pleasures of watching the Food Network’s Restaurant Makeover in reruns – other than witnessing Ruby Watchco’s Lynn Crawford go ballistic when anyone dares call her “babe” – is seeing how many participating restos go belly-up immediately after appearing on the locally produced reality TV show.
They call it the Restaurant Makeover curse.
A similar fate seems to await the contestants on Top Chef Canada.
After the first series was filmed, runner-up Rob Rossi left Mercatto to launch his still-to-open Bestellen on College while Steve Gonzales exited Origin after placing 13th in the competition only to resurface – temporarily at least – at the Niagara Street Café. After finishing in 10th place, Chris Kanka lost his job at Woo when the buffet shuttered last fall, and third runner-up Dustin Gallagher – he of the mile-wide smile – has just announced he’s leaving Grace after a four-year run.
Top Chef Canada isn’t scheduled to start its second season until March 12th but front-runner and rumoured winner Carl Heinrich has already left Marben to start his own snout-to-tail bistro later this year.
Perhaps the most jinxed of all is season one’s fifth runner-up Andrea Nicholson who’s not only thrown in the towel at Great Cooks on Eight to concentrate on her Killer Condiment line but has also been named as the new guest chef on the about-to-be-revived Restaurant Makeover.
Double whammy?
